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Devil's NightmareRating:
Release Date: 01 July, 1998 Retail Price: $24.99 OUR Price: $22.99 You SAVE: $2.00! Cast: |
Devil's Nightmare Reviews
Not very thrilling
"Devil's Nightmare" has an intriguing cult reputation, and some bizarre stills of the film's star Erika Blanc that are taken from it promise it to be quite a lurid thriller...sadly it isn't.
Seven tourists stay overnight at a large castle, and are regaled with gruesome history tales by the ghoulish butler. The host tells them the family is cursed by a succubus, whereupon an eighth guest suddenly arrives in the shape of the stunning Ms Blanc. No prizes for guessing what she is then! After bewitching the other guests with her sultry demeanor and revealing gowns, she gradually works her way through the lot of them, managing to lure them to various inventive deaths one after another, all of which are themed around each of the characters various sinful leanings (greed, lust, etc). Only a priest seems able to resisit the charms of the mystery woman...will he be able to break the terrible curse?
Yes I know that plot sounds like it could have been somehow worked into a stylish and shocking gothic horror, but something vital is really missing from this effort. I think it's down to a general lack of polish and care, and attention to laying down any sort of atmosphere. The castle where all the main action takes place is a stunning building on the oustide, but the interior is not nearly as impressive - especially the bedrooms that the guests are shown to, they are kitted out in the most appalling over-fussy floral decor, each one more hideous than the last. There's little sense of art direction, especially in hilariously bad scenes when the characters are supposed to be creeping around looking for a way out of the castle in nothing but candlelight, whereas in fact all these scens are visibly and harshly over-lit with industrial arc-lighting! The continuation and photography is also very poor with a great deal of obvious inconsistencies in the brightness of the sky outside. The English dubbing is also very, very bad. It makes a mockery of all the acting, although even good dubbing would not save the actor playing the priest, who gives the blandest, most wooden performance I have ever seen, almost single-handedly dragging what little tension there is towards the film's climax into the gutter.
On the plus side, Erika Blanc makes for a pretty dashing succubus, with her appearance altering to a pale, skeletal fright-face every time she is about her killing business. She also manages to pull off some very weird and wonderful contortions which verge on the pantomime, but luckily fall on just the right side of creepy. But the death scenes are all very cheaply handled and laughably unlikely. The behaviour of the guests is never anything less than totally vapid, even when faced with obvious danger. And to my total non-surprise (this being a European horror film from the 1970's), there's also a totally gratuitous lesbian sex scene that goes completely nowhere plot-wise...oh well, at least all the women in this film are very attractive so for those that want to see topless beauties doing the business, there's a small helping of that just for you. For anyone who is interested in plot, gothic atmosphere or just plain horror, this films serves up such thin helpings of each of those that it's really not worth the effort.
I'm sorry to be negative, and I was disappointed myself, but aside from Erica Blanc in what is probably her most memorable horror appearance, there's barely anything memorable in this.
seven sinners and a succubi
Seven tourists (representing the seven deadly sins) end up having to spend the night together. Along comes a yummy succubi to throw in some evening entertainment. It's a low budget 70's flick, but is still pretty good.
If they updated the script and the special effects, this movie could have a brilliant remake someday.
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